Players get tangled up in 'Leading Ladies'

Get ready for some laughs when the Richland Players present their latest comedy, Leading Ladies.

The play, reminiscent of Some Like It Hot, which starred Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, follows the antics of two English Shakespearean actors, Leo and Jack, who are down on their luck while performing in America.

They hear about a wealthy woman who's dying and looking for her long lost English nephews Max and Steve to inherit her estate. Leo and Jack decide to chuck their lame acting gig and pass themselves off as the rich old dame's relatives, only to discover that Max and Steve are really nieces Maxine and Stephanie.

Well, that's no problem for a couple of actors to remedy. They dress up as women to claim the inheritance, and that's where the fun begins.

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Entanglements abound as the guys ensconce themselves into the woman's family, especially when they learn the old woman really isn't dying at all.

And just like when Tony Curtis, dressed as a woman, falls for Marilyn Monroe, the Englishmen end up falling head-over-petticoats in love with the real nieces they are pretending to be.

Added to the mystique and hilarity of the plot are the suspicions of the Rev. Wooley and the cantankerous old rich woman, which leaves little time to catch your breath amid the bouts of laughter.

Directed by Joyce Bean, the play features Michael Thomas and Brad Steiner as Leo and Jack, Crystina Feduk and Molly Holleran as Meg and Audrey, Eunice Worden as Florence, Richard Reuther as the doctor, Jerry Bush as Butch, Mark Miranda as Duncan, and an appearance by Tom Powers as Chief Moose.